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Religion, Science, and the Public Imagination: The Restoration of Order in Early Modern France

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Experiencing Nature

Part of the book series: The University of Western Ontario Series in Philosophy of Science ((WONS,volume 58))

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Abstract

On the night of 17–18 October 1534, radical religious reformers posted broadsheets throughout Paris proclaiming war on public idolatry. This “affaire des placards” was a provocation that precipitated the prolonged and violent confrontation between Protestants and Catholics, the French Wars of Religion. The radical reformers attacked “the pompous and proud Papal Mass, ” denying that the words of the celebrating priest changed bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. To them transubstantiation resembled a magical conjuration, a remnant of medieval ignorance; it was “a diabolical doctrine” that drove “these blind sacrificateurs” to idolatry, to the worship of Satan. As the civil authorities had failed to stop these offenses against religion, true believers had to alert the public to the danger; otherwise a divine vengeance “will soon totally destroy this world, plunging it into desolation, ruin, perdition, and the abyss.”1

This is a revised and developed version of papers read at the Society for French Historical Studies, April 1991, the University of British Columbia, and at a conference in honor of Allen G. Debus, “Experiencing Nature, ” October 1991, The University of Chicago. I am grateful for Keith Michael Baker’s critical suggestions.

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Notes

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  1. Terence D. Murphy
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  1. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., USA

    Paul H. Theerman

  2. University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    Karen Hunger Parshall

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Murphy, T.D. (1997). Religion, Science, and the Public Imagination: The Restoration of Order in Early Modern France. In: Theerman, P.H., Parshall, K.H. (eds) Experiencing Nature. The University of Western Ontario Series in Philosophy of Science, vol 58. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5810-7_5

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